Five-Star General Wants to Repeat at Longacres Mile

Twelve older horses led by Five Star General champion and 2022 Slew’s winner Tiz Whiz will contest the 89th running of the $150,000 Longacres Mile at Emerald Downs on Sunday.

In addition to the Mile, the $50,000 Emerald Distaff, $50,000 Muckleshoot Derby and $50,000 Washington Oaks were also open—with 42 entries in four races—and these awards make up a special Sunday Championship with all bets set at $0.50 for races 6 through 9.

First post is 2pm, with Mile being considered the 9th race at 6:30pm

There are fourteen horses in the Mile with Papa’s Golden Boy and Canada’s Apprehend excluded based on total earnings in 2023 and 2024.

The top four finishers in last year’s race—Five Star General, Il Bellator, Slew’s Tiz Whiz, Arma d’Oro—will all return in 2024.

Five Star General is the morning favourite at 5/2, followed by Slew’s Tiz Whiz at 4/1, Clovisconnection at 9/2 and Arma d’Oro at 8/1.

Owned by Ken Alhadeff and trained by Grant Forster, the remarkable Five Star General is bidding to become the fifth two-time winner of this historic race. The 8-year-old by Distorted Humor finished third in Miles’ record of four consecutive wins, and with this win, Awesome Gem (2011) and Gigantic (1959) are the only 8-year-olds to have won the Mile.

Since his win here last year, Five Star General has continued his journey as a world traveler, winning $100,000 races in Louisiana and Kentucky and posting a total of 12-6-9 in 38 starts for $819,702 in earnings. His 97 Beyer at the Michael Schaefer Memorial last month at Horseshoe Indianapolis was the high point in this year’s racing.

Five Star General has drawn the No. 9 spot, which has yielded just three wins from 40 starters in flat mile races over the past six years at Emerald Downs. With his speed and versatility, and the experience of jockey Joe Bravo, Five Star General should be able to make a run.

Slew’s Tiz Whiz enters the race in top form. The 6-year-old Tom Wenzel trainee won the Governor’s Stakes by a landslide – his third straight win in the 6 ½-furlong race leading into the Longacres Mile. The only Washington horse in the race this year, Slew’s Tiz Whiz used his patented finishing kick to score by 2 ¾ lengths in the 2022 Mile and came from far back to take third last year. This year marks a turning point between Five Star General and Slew’s Tiz Whiz – each has a win and a third place in the past two years.

Owned by Slew’s Crew Racing and ridden by Jose Zunino, Slew’s Tiz Whiz has 22 career starts at Emerald Downs with a 9-4-3 record and earnings of $298,457.

Clovisconnection has one of the best winning percentages in racing. The California-bred 4-year-old has a 9-14 record in his lifetime with five race wins including a 2-for-2 record at Emerald Downs. The fast Vronsky gelding has yet to win two races on dirt, but led from gate to finish in the 1 1/6-mile Robert Dupret Derby on turf at Santa Rosa and finished a close second in the Silky Sullivan mile on turf at Golden Gate. Clovisconnection enters the Mile after two recent sprint wins including the Oak Tree Sprint at Pleasanton.

In addition to Clovisconnection, trainer Blaine Wright also saddles Prince Abu Dhabi, a 4-year-old horse with six wins from 11, including last year’s Muckleshoot Derby at Emerald Downs.

Trainer Justin Evans is arguably the busiest man in the field ahead of the Mile. The race’s leading trainer in wins (45) and win percentage (35.1), Evans has four horses in the race—Arma d’Oro, Neiman, Giant Game and Surprisingly Perfect.

Arma d’Oro and Neiman are the mainstays in the local senior class. Claimed for $25,000 in the previous two races, the 6-year-old Arma d’Oro has quickly paid off for Evans and Rakoczy Racing with back-to-back wins, one for the fastest mile (1:34.03) and one for a neck-and-neck with Slew’s Tiz Whiz in the Governor’s Stakes.

Neiman is expected to break away from the No. 1 spot on the track. The 4-year-old Munnings gelding ran the fastest time in the competition at six furlongs, 1:07.98, while earning $39.86 in the Budweiser Stakes, and was beaten just 1 3/4 lengths to finish third behind Papa’s Golden Boy in the Governor’s.

Giant Game, a recently acquired horse, finished seventh behind The Chosen Vron in the Bing Crosby (G1) at Del Mar and has a track record that includes a win in the Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows in 2023. The gray-bearded horse, who is in the Mile this year at age 10, has four wins in the current event and 21 career wins, including 12 at the mile. Sunday marks a big step up in class.

Il Bellator, who finished second to Five Star General last year, took fifth place in the $150,000 Pleasanton Mile after winning the one-mile optional race on the synthetic track at Golden Gate.

Phantom Ride is a recent $62,500 claimant with three track wins on his 2024 ledger. Deshambeau finished second to Prince Abu Dhabi in the 2023 Muckleshoot Derby while Muncey is trained by three-time Longacres Mile winner Howard Belvoir.

Sunday’s weather forecast calls for mostly sunny weather with a high of 80 degrees.

Kathy Coffey, widow of the late Junior Coffey, is the Steward Emeritus of the 2024 Longacres Mile. Junior Coffey was inducted into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame in a pre-race ceremony on Saturday.

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